Whipped Cream Difficulties

David Fizdale out as head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies. I do believe this is the first coach firing of the NBA season.

He was 50-51 after a little more than a year with the team. The big problems seem to be that he was 7-12 so far this season, they’ve lost eight games in a row, and Mr. Fizdale got crosswise with Marc Gasol (one of the team’s star players).

In other news, Ty Detmer is also out as offensive coordinator for BYU.

David Bailiff out as head coach at Rice.

He’d been there for 11 seasons and was 57-80 overall.

During Bailiff’s tenure (tied for the third longest in school history), Rice players have regularly excelled off the field; eight players have been taken in the NFL Draft; and the school opened the $31.5 million, 60,000-square-foot Brian Patterson Center for coaches’ offices and a locker and weight room in 2015.

He also took Rice to four bowl games.

After going 3-9 in Bailiff’s first season in 2007, Rice rebounded with a 10-3 year and won the Texas Bowl in 2008. But since winning the Owls’ first outright conference title in 56 years in 2013, Bailiff’s teams have done progressively worse.
Rice went 8-5 in 2014 and won the Hawaii Bowl. They ended 2015 with a 5-7 record and finished 3-9 in 2016.

And they were 1-11 this year, which is not a good look.

…I think this is the strangest football story (college or pro) I’ve seen so far this season. I didn’t know anything about it until this morning when I checked my phone: Mike the Musicologist had pinged me overnight, but the media wasn’t covering this when I wrote last night’s loser/firings update.

But I digress. As you know, Bob, Tennessee fired Butch Jones a few weeks ago. So they’ve been looking for a replacement, and found one…

…Greg Schiano, current defensive coordinator with Ohio State.

The name “Greg Schiano” may ring some bells with longtime readers. Gregg Easterbrook had serious issues with Mr. Schiano during his previous coaching tenures, which include a stint at Tampa Bay (where he was fired after going 11-21) and at Rutgers for 11 years before that (where he was 68-67). Most of Easterbrook’s issues seemed to be with Mr. Schiano’s alleged lack of “sportsmanship”: Mr. Schiano famously bragged about telling his teams to disrupt kneel-down plays.

Anyway. The university apparently signed a “memorandum of understanding” with Mr. Schiano, and word got out on Sunday.

Hilarity ensued. If by “hilarity” you mean “a massive s–t fit”.

Tennessee students, fans, and some political figures did not like the idea of hiring Mr. Schiano. At least part of the objection seems to be that Mr. Sciano’s previous coaching stints also include a stop at Penn State during the Sandusky era.

Schiano was known in the NFL as being a domineering leader with a challenging personality.

Giggle. Snort.

A slew of state politicians spoke out against the possible hire, and at least three local businesses announced they were preemptively banning Schiano.

Now Tennessee has apparently backed out of the deal. USA Today. ESPN.

Question 1: does Tennessee owe Mr. Schiano money? And if so, how much?

There are reports that TN will owe Schiano $20 million in a buyout for a contract that was signed but TN backed… https://t.co/fouiHHZmjl

— Brad Jones (@BradJonesBBBTV) November 27, 2017

I think Brad Jones knows more about this stuff than I do, but $20 million seems unlikely to me. I can see this costing the university some money, maybe even in the seven-figure range. But it looks like Mr. Schiano still has his Ohio State job, and the contract was “subject to approval” by the board of regents…

Question #2: does athletics director John Currie quit, or get fired?

Look, national media can think what they want about us, but at no point in history has every member of #VolTwitter AND the Tennessee media agreed on something. That's how big of a deal this Schiano thing is.

— Brian Rice (@briancrice) November 26, 2017

After a lot of shoving and a few punches thrown, and TCU coach Gary Patterson among those trying to keep his players from running all the way across the field into the fray, officials announced that every player on both teams had been assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

And, of course, we have questions:

• Every player? On both teams?
• “Unsportsmanlike conduct, TCU bench,” the ref said. “Everybody on the field will get an unsportsmanlike. Unsportsmanlike conduct on Baylor. Everyone on that bench will get an unsportsmanlike.” Guess so.
• But what did this mean in game terms? It kind of sounds like offsetting penalties with nobody gaining or losing yardage.
• So what was the point of calling this? To make the refs feel better?
• What’s the practical impact long term? Does this go on each player’s permanent record?

This literally just in: the other shoe has dropped in Arkansas. Bret Bielema out as head coach. He was 29-34 overall in five seasons, with a record of 4-8 overall and 1-7 in SEC play this season.

Now we have a rare storm developing on the horizon. The Giants (2-9) could have a top-three draft pick and the Jets (4-6) could be in the top 10, setting up some New York-style quarterback drama come April. The last time the Jets and Giants used top-10 picks on quarterbacks in the same year was … never.

My prediction: Cleveland gets the first pick and takes either Darnold or Rosen. SF gets the second pick and takes whichever one Cleveland doesn’t. Whoever Cleveland takes plays for two years, gets battered and beaten, then gets tossed aside for another first round draft choice quarterback, and is probably out of the NFL by 2025.

I wish I didn’t think this: I’d like to see the Browns win a Superb Owl in my lifetime. But how many franchise quarterbacks have they drafted or signed from elsewhere over the years?

Former Atlanta Braves general manager John Coppolella has been placed on baseball’s permanently ineligible list and the team will lose its top prospect as part of MLB’s penalties against the team for rules violations in the international market.

This would be the third person placed on the “permanently ineligible” list by Rob Manfred, and the second one this year. (Previously. Previously.)

In addition, the Braves “must forfeit 13 international prospects”:

Atlanta must forfeit [Kevin] Maitan, Juan Contreras, Yefri del Rosario, Abrahan Gutierrez, Juan Carlos Negret, Yenci Peña, Yunior Severino, Livan Soto, Guillermo Zuniga, Brandol Mezquita, Angel Rojas, Antonio Sucre and Ji Hwan Bae.

(Kevin Maitan is described in the article as the team’s “best prospect”.)

All 13 players will become free agents and are eligible to sign with any team. Manfred also announced that the Braves have been prohibited from signing prospect Robert Puason.

Also, Gordon Blakely, who used to be a “special assistant” with the team, has been suspended for one year.

(Sorry for linking to ESPN. I would rather have linked to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution‘s coverage, but they haven’t updated their story.)

Jeff Long out as athletic director of the University of Arkansas. Football coach Bret Bielema seems to have a job for now, but there’s widespread speculation he will be the next to go.

The Razorbacks are 4-6 overall and 1-5 in SEC games this season and have a program-record five losses of 20 points or more.

Stretching the definition of firing a wee bit: if you are a college football player, try to avoid punching one of your assistant coaches in the head twice.

Because that behavior doesn’t just get you benched: it gets you thrown off the team and expelled from the university.